Cleanroom Doors Make The Difference

Cleanroom Doors Make The Difference

Several factors should be carefully investigated before investing in a door system solution for the cleanroom environment:

Air Pressure And Sealing
To support air filter technology, maintaining appropriate room pressure and seal is of utmost importance. With airflow levels and negative pressures in the hallway between suites, particles can travel easily and threaten the quality of controlled substances manufactured at any given facility. This is exactly why door system design should contain proper sealing to control pre-determined air circulation rates as well as reduce airborne contamination.

Cleanability
Logically, cleanroom doors are cleaned frequently. Cleanroom designers are constantly looking for cleanroom doors that can maximize cleanability, while standing up to chemical treatment. A recent study showed today’s standard door materials deteriorate visibly over 30, 60, and 90 days when subjected to standard chemical solvents. The doors that fared best in this experiment were fiberglass doors manufactured much in the way fiberglass boats are created, using durable, seamless layers with no edges or grooves. Cleanroom doors should also be manufactured with minimal ledges, crevices, and angles. This inhibits dirt and bacteria from collecting easily and makes it easier to withstand frequent cleaning. Surfaces should be non-shedding, non-porous, and resistant to sustaining microbial and fungal growth, as well as designed to tolerate consistent cleaning and sanitization with a number of chemicals. Some cleanroom doors are even installed without drilling into the floor. Just imagine the particulates that accumulate in the crevices resulting from floor installation and bolt-fitting, and how difficult these areas are to clean. Coupled with cleaner installation, which limits additional particulates that are released into the air, doors installed without floor drilling are better choices for cleanrooms.

Corrosion
Problems with corrosion go hand-in-hand with constant cleaning, especially with older door systems. It is not uncommon for old-style cleanroom and lab areas to be outfitted with hollow metal or aluminum doors. Painted steel or aluminum could shed particles. Eventually, these types of doors start to flake, deteriorate, and sometimes virtually dissolve after being exposed to toxic and severe cleaners. This long-term corrosion problem, coupled with cleanability issues, can cost manufacturers money in the long run. When it comes to corrosion, cleanroom designers can’t afford anything less than perfectly seamless door solutions for their facilities. What cleanroom designers really need to look for are fiberglass doors, which provide maximum corrosion protection with a fully enclosed panel. This investment will pay dividends in the end. Corrodibility is not only a lurking problem on the door’s surface, but can also affect the door’s tracks. While aluminum or galvanized tracks are a less expensive option, they are corrodible. Stainless-steel tracks, on the other hand, offer longevity, durability and the ultra-clean look companies and regulators are looking for, especially if European standards are at stake.

Flexibility and Security
Besides the cleanability and durability factors, cleanroom doors should offer various options for flexibility to fit personnel’s needs as well as process requirements. Having flexible door systems enables project engineers to outfit cleanrooms with doors needing vision panels, pushplates or other activation devices, magnetic locks, and interlocking systems. Utilizing interlocks, sometimes referred to as “airlocks,” is not uncommon, especially in personnel entrances and exits, gowning and de-gowning areas, and material transfer airlocks in cleanroom environments. The functional concept of the interlock is to prevent two doors from being open at the same time, thus preventing air infiltration from one space directly to the other. This is typically done in cleanroom environments to prevent outside, airborne contamination from entering the process areas.

Efficiency
Ultimately, the new age of cleanroom design gravitates toward greater efficiency and cost savings. Practical cleanroom design minimizes HVAC requirements, reduces cleaning and maintenance costs, and withstands the conditions in which they function. By investigating in cleanroom door products with an eye toward air seal, cleanability, corrosion, flexibility, and security, designers can provide increased returns over the life of their doors and the cleanrooms as a whole.

In short, cleanroom doors significantly contribute to the clean level of critical environments. There are plenty of cleanroom door companies out there. Make sure to look for a company with experience in the marketplace and proven technology and performance. Making these considerations now will make all the difference in the future.

Automotive Cleanroom Design Tips: Cleanroom Doors and Pass-Throughs

Your cleanroom doors are the most vulnerable part of the cleanroom. As the most likely place for particles and contamination to enter your controlled cleanroom environment, it’s important to choose cleanroom doors that are secure, reliable, and contaminant-free. There are many factors to consider when choosing cleanroom doors for your facility. The first consideration you’ll need to make is the type of cleanroom doors that will best serve your automotive cleanroom’s needs.

Types of Cleanroom Doors

Cleanroom doors typically come in two main varieties: swinging, sliding, and high-speed roll-up doors. Let’s take a look at the difference between them and the advantages they can offer your automotive cleanroom application.

Swinging Cleanroom Doors

Swinging cleanroom doors are attached to hinges on one side of the cleanroom door frame. They swing out of the cleanroom, or in, or both. These doors are designed to close flush with the rest of the wall panel with an airtight seal. They can be installed at different heights and widths as your application demands.

A disadvantage of swinging cleanroom doors is they take up space in your cleanroom, as there needs to be room for the door to swing. Also, the movement of the door can sometimes create turbulent air within the cleanroom. In some applications this could disrupt the airflow pattern and spell trouble for contamination-sensitive processes.

Sliding Cleanroom Doors

Sliding doors are attached on tracks at the top and bottom of the threshold. The tracks can be built seamlessly into the floor and ceiling panels so no particles can get inside. A major advantage of sliding cleanroom doors is that they don’t take up as much space as swinging doors. They slide into wall panels or fit along the wall with a slim profile, saving valuable floor space for your operations.

Sliding doors can also be programmed to open and close automatically, which improves efficiency in high traffic areas. The automatic option saves your employees from having to touch handles to operate the door, which works well in applications where employees need to carry materials or move between rooms hands-free. Be aware that sliding cleanroom doors usually require electronic access to open and close. If there’s a power failure, you’ll need to have a back up system in place to operate the door.

High-Speed Roll-Up Doors

High-speed roll-up doors are an increasingly popular option for cleanrooms in many industries. When in operation, the fabric “curtain” rolls up and is conveniently stored in a space-efficient head assembly at the ceiling, saving valuable wall space compared to other types of cleanroom doors. These doors are able to maintain a high-quality seal so as to retain clean air within the cleanroom and keep out contaminating particles. They can be made using non-porous, non-particle-shedding, and antimicrobial materials to withstand your cleanroom cleaning protocol and protect the controlled environment.

High-speed roll-up cleanroom doors can be built to a custom height and width to accommodate non-standard equipment and products. The new generation of roll-up doors can be operated at speeds as high as 100 in/s, so you can open and close the door with minimum disruption to cleanroom activities.

Cleanroom Pass-Throughs

Cleanroom pass-throughs are cabinets installed in the walls of your automotive cleanroom for the transfer of objects in and out of the cleanroom environment. Pass-throughs have swinging doors attached at both ends where items can be placed or removed.

When properly installed and sealed, cleanroom pass-throughs can improve productivity and safety, and reduce the need for traffic to enter and exit through cleanroom doors which preserves the cleanroom environment. This also lowers your operating costs, as you’re not wasting the energy to filter and regulate the air lost when opening and closing a door, versus the smaller volume of a cleanroom pass-through.

Choosing Cleanroom Doors Pass-Throughs

When designing your automotive cleanroom, it’s important to choose the right cleanroom doors and pass-throughs that will offer the best performance for your application.

Your automotive cleanroom doors and pass-throughs…

• Must be airtight and flush with the walls.

  An airtight seal prevents particles from settling in the hinges, around the edges or any part of the door or pass-through itself. This helps to minimize the transference of unfiltered air and reduce the risk of contamination in your automotive cleanroom.

• Must be easily integrated with your modular wall panels.

  Should also be able to accommodate the people, equipment, and products moving in and out of the cleanroom, but not too large that you waste extra energy by releasing filtered and regulated air out of the cleanroom unnecessarily.

• Must be sturdy and impact-resistant.

  The ideal cleanroom doors will be strong enough to withstand consistent use, yet light enough to be easily operated. They should not be damaged easily if a piece of equipment or employee bumps into them.

• Must be able to withstand cleaning.

  Your cleanroom doors should be made of a material that won’t corrode or shed particles into your controlled environment when cleaned.

• Must be antistatic.

  Cleanroom doors should not allow the buildup of static electricity which could cause damage to your processes or people, or attract contaminating particles.

• Must be able to lock

  . Having cleanroom doors with a secure locking mechanism is necessary to maintain a closed environment to protect interior operations, as well as to secure the room when it’s not in use. The locking mechanism must be able to function if electricity is interrupted — you don’t want to risk not being able to close the room, or worse, trapping personnel inside if there’s an unexpected outage.

At Angstrom Technology, we design our cleanroom doors to protect you and your products, while allowing easy passage in and out of the cleanroom. To learn more about the best door options for your cleanroom, reach out to us.

Clean Room Doors

A clean finish.

The customised, high quality clean room doors from Lindner ensure a high degree of impermeability for your clean room. They can be entirely made from non-organic materials and fitted with surfaces suitable for clean-rooms, ensuring that all clean-room standards are met. We also supply doors with all the important fire, smoke and noise protection properties tested to the current EU directives and DIN standards. The highest level of comfort paired with the optimal level of safety.

• glass cutouts for a high level of transparency
• compatible with Lindner Floor and Ceiling Systems
• special components available depending on customer's requirements
• integral scratch protection available